


The Classroom Fire

by Meribell64



Series: Claudeleth Week [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Claudeleth Week (Fire Emblem), F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Humor, LATE AF, Light-Hearted, Mystery, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25561720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meribell64/pseuds/Meribell64
Summary: An unexpected fire occurred in the old Golden Deer classroom, with no one knowing what or who caused it. Still recovering from their battle from the events at Ailell, it brings some edge of who could possibly cause such incident. Claude von Riegan attempts to solve this mystery.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Series: Claudeleth Week [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839541
Comments: 14
Kudos: 39
Collections: Claudeleth Week 2020





	The Classroom Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo I am catching up on the Claudeleth Week prompts even though it is over and I will go ahead and just add them to the collection as well as my Claudeleth week series. I'm going to be bouncing between the remaining prompts I had intended to write for and this one was Day 7, free day. 
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this one quite honestly and hope everyone enjoys! <3

They all gathered around the destroyed and scorched bundle of wood that was once tables in the Golden Deer classroom. Now normally, Claude would have dismissed this as using what little resources they had for other means, such as starting up fireplaces that are often found scattered in the monastery, or even be used for the kitchens. If they hadn’t heard the loud explosion that came from it. Thankfully, everyone was nearby and was able to put down the raging fire that occurred in the room, which was not looking any better than the burnt pile of wood that laid before them. Nonetheless, everything in the classroom seemed to be intact, saved for scorched marks here and there, tattered curtains or what remained of the books on the shelves. 

This was an alarming situation and it hasn’t been too long since they were informed that there were still spies in their army after their incident at Ailell, the Valley of Torment. Was this an attempt to distract them from something bigger? An assassination attempt on someone? A plan gone wrong by someone? There were too many possibilities for Claude’s liking and the sooner they get to the bottom of this, the sooner they can rest easy (well as easy they can during these times). 

As much as he wanted to consider assassination, this was far too sloppy and attracted too much attention. If they wanted to kill the two main figureheads of their army, which means either himself or Teach, then it would have been better when either of them were alone and secluded and preferably at the dead of night when there is far less security. So now this begs the question: “What the hell happened here?”

His fellow deers were just as confused and as much in loss as he was. Teach remained impassive towards this, which wasn’t surprising with that carefully placed neutral expression she always had on her face for as long as he remembered. Her eyes were trained on the scene before them and for some reason, he couldn’t shake off this strange feeling as he heard her say, “Well, the most important thing is that no one seemed to be hurt.”

“Yes, it is fortunate that no one was injured, however, to cause such damage to this extent…” Lorenz pressed his lips into a thin line as his eyebrows furrowed together, causing a deep crease between them. “Was this an Imperial attack?”

“No way, if they wanted to attack us, we have known by now. Not only that, it’s kind of weird it only happened in this specific room,” Leonie pointed out as she rested her fist on her hip. 

“Well, in any case, I’m just glad there was no serious damage to the classroom. After all, it holds so many memories for all of us,” Hilda pointed out and everyone hummed or made some kind of noise of agreement with his pink bubblegum haired friend. “But who would do such a thing? I mean, even if it was an Imperial attack, I doubt they would have just stopped at just destroying a bunch of old tables.”

Lysithea crouched down to the pile and looked over it. “From the looks of it, magic was used to set it on fire. Thankfully Marianne and I were able to contain it.” Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “It seemed that this was no simple fire spell, it was a much stronger spell.”

“We think it was a Bolganone spell that was used.” Marianne supplemented.

Well that would explain the heavy scorch marks on the ground in the classroom. He peered back into it from where the tables originally came from. That’s going to take a while to fix. They may have to replace the whole floor. He runs his hand through his hair. “Not many people can cast that spell, especially as contained as this was.”

“Whoever did cast it had to be skilled as it was mainly contained in the classroom. Even I would struggle in performing such a feat,” Lorenz stated, as humbly as one would expect from him. “If I didn’t know any better, it was intended for a specific target.” He looked over to the rest of his peers. “Who was in the classroom, or closest to it, before this occurred?”

“Well Leonie and I were just coming from the training grounds when we heard the explosion,” Raphael testified. “We rushed our way over as quick as we could to make sure no one was hurt.” Leonie nodded in agreement to his statement. 

“I was in my room before Marianne came rushing in and told me what happened,” Lysithea stated as she stood up to her full height and crossed her arms. 

Marianne nodded. “I was in the greenhouse grabbing some herbs when I heard the knights yelling.”

“I had no idea what was going on, I was with Claude when this whole thing happened,” Hilda said and looked over to the mentioned Leader Man who had to nod in agreement. 

“It’s true. By the time we heard the commotion, it seemed like it was all contained.” Claude added to her statement. “How about you Lorenz? Where were you when the scene of the crime happened?” he asked with a smirk, obviously just wanting to ruffle his feathers.

Lorenz shot a glare. “Are you accusing me of setting our classroom on fire? Why would I ever do such a thing?” He asked indignantly. “If you must know, I was consulting with Lady Catherine and Lady Judith over important political matters. You can ask either of them as proof of my alibi.”

“It wasn’t Lorenz,” Teach suddenly cut in, surprising Claude at how quick she defended Lorenz, especially how sure she sounded. 

“I don’t know Teach, you know the saying, guilty until proven innocent and all,” Claude stated but he sees her gently shake her head resolutely.

“He wouldn’t do something like this, and if you ask me, it looks like this wasn’t intentional,” She stated, only leaving Claude to quirk an eyebrow at her. Okay, if he didn’t have a funny feeling before, he definitely did now. 

For now he decided to let that statement pass before turning to Ignatz. “What about you, Ignatz? Did you happen to see what happened before it happened?”

Ignatz shook his head. “I just happened to pass through the courtyard and I just happened to chance up the scene as I heard the professor giving orders to help put out the fire.”

Well, from what Claude could gather, no one seemed to have been in the classroom or saw who started the fire. Except… He looked towards his beloved Teach who remained strangely calm about this ordeal. Sure she normally was, being the voice of reason when he couldn’t and thinking things with a leveled head, but something about her demeanor felt… off. He couldn’t put his finger on it. “So, Teach, what do you make of this?” he asked her.

She didn’t say anything at first, simply holding her chin with her hand, seemingly lost in thought. He watched her face carefully, looking for even the slightest change in expression. “I’m sure,” she finally said, “if this was an Imperial attack, it would have been much worse. Not only that, it’s too sloppy. Edelgard would have taken a much more direct approach, and even if she didn’t, she would have done things much more efficiently than this.” 

Claude nodded in agreement. She practically said what he was thinking and enjoyed that part about her-- always saying the exact thing he thinks of as if she plucked it out of his head. 

“Well if we’re done here,” Hilda began as she stretched her arms up and out. “I think we can safely assume this was an accident. And it wouldn’t do anyone good to leave this pile of burnt wood out here. It’s not good for the air you know.” She smiled, a bit too wide for Claude’s liking if he had to be honest. “Raphael, would you be a dear and help us carry this off? It is almost about time for dinner.”

Just the prospect of food was enough motivation for Raphael to start helping. “Aw you’re right! I’m sure they wouldn’t mind some extra firewood then.” He began to carefully pick pieces of the table, carrying one piece of wood under one arm while holding another over his shoulder.

“Hey, some of this is still salvageable! Don’t bring it all just into the kitchen,” Leonie exclaimed as she began to pick through the pile for ones that weren’t entirely burnt through. 

Slowly, everyone began to pitch in, or slyly get out of doing work  Hilda. As each Golden Deer left one by one, Claude and Byleth were the only ones who were left behind. “Well, I guess that was one way to end the day,” Claude stated to break the silence between them, casually stretching his arms out.

He only hears her let out a small hum of agreement, arms carefully folded in front of her chest as she looks back to the classroom. There was a look he couldn’t quite describe but as he observed her, he noticed the way her fingertips twitched against her arm. “You know, I didn’t ask where you were,” he began.

She was quiet still, eyes not meeting his own. “Ah, so you didn’t.”

“So.”

“So..?”

“Where were you when the fire happened, Teach?” he asked. 

Claude couldn’t help but feel a little smug as he was answered with silence. The corners of his lips stretched up into a grin as he saw how she shifted her weight between her feet, still refusing to look at him. “Teach?” he prompted, a slight teasing lilt in his voice.

Finally, she let out a sigh, turning her head away from him. If he looked closer, he swore he could see the tip of her ears turning the slightest shade of red. “I was the last person to be in the classroom,” she admitted.

There it was, the answer fed his curiosity. He couldn’t help but let out a small laugh as he slapped his hand over his head. “I should have known, though I got to ask, what exactly happened that you had to cast a Bolganone spell?” he asked as he crossed his arms. 

“It wasn’t the tables,” she murmured. 

He raised an eyebrow. 

* * *

_ Byleth sighed softly as she sorted her papers, gently hitting the stack against the table to straighten them up. Another day’s work done… for now. She could only imagine the amount of reports that were probably in her room by now. As she slowly stood up from the table and tucked the stack of papers under her arm, she noticed a particular black spot on the table. A rather big irregular sized spot. _

_ Normally she would have shrugged it off until it began to move. She froze in place as the black spot was a rather big spot… with legs. Long, creepy, crawly legs.  _

_ It began to move and crawl across the surface of the table in slow, cautious movements. Soon, it turned its direction towards her, the back of the spot beginning to open up to reveal a pair of small sized translucent wings.  _

_ Upon further inspection, she realized it wasn’t some black spot. A black spot that began its sudden flight.  _

_ It was-- _

* * *

“A roach.” Claude stared at her in disbelief. 

“It wasn’t just a roach,” she insisted with such quiet ferocity, letting out a huff of breath. “It was huge! I thought it was going to attack me!”

“... You set the entire classroom on fire… because of a flying cockroach?” 

“... Yes. I set the classroom on fire because of a cockroach.” Byleth confirmed.

Silence filled in the air between them until Claude began to laugh loudly, almost doubling over as he held his side from how hard he was laughing. His beloved professor, the fiercest swordswoman he has ever laid eyes on, daughter of the Blade Breaker, the one who was known as the  _ Ashen Demon _ , set their classroom on fire because she was scared of a roach! 

“Claude! Stop laughing!” She demanded. 

“Hahaha, sorry, sorry!” he huffed, desperately trying to get air back into his lungs. He took in one deep breath, only to laugh again. Byleth only groaned as he laughed, undoubtedly embarrassed by the truth she revealed to him. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, his laughter subsided and he was able to breathe again. “I got to say, out of everything that I expected, this was not one of them.” As Claude looks up to her, he sees her face sporting a rose-colored tint to it, spreading across from cheek to cheek, her lower lip jutting out ever so slightly into a pout. Cute. 

She lets out a deep sigh, turning her face away again from him. “Even I have things I’m afraid of, Claude,” she says to him.

He could only give her a smile as he stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “And there’s nothing wrong with that,” he assured her.

For a moment, he feels her body tense at the contact before quickly relaxing. He swore he could feel her lean into him just a tiny bit. “Let’s just forget this happened, please?” she asked.

“Hmmm, I don’t know, I think this would make quite a story to tell. The Enlightened One, risking her life to save the world against the most fearest insect known to man: the cockroach,” he embellished dramatically, even waving his free hand in the air for emphasis.

“Claude,” She warned in that professor voice of hers. 

He could only laugh as he walked with her, keeping his arm around her shoulder and holding her close.

Just behind them, a flying insect flies from the classroom, unscathed. 


End file.
